goal.com

Goal.com delves into new Italy coach Marcello Lippi’s career and life in order to gain a broader insight into one of the greatest coaches of all time…

Particulars

Name: Marcello Romeo Lippi
Date of Birth: April 12, 1948 (60)
Place of Birth: Viareggio, Italy
Teams played for: Sampdoria, Savona, and Pistoiese
Teams managed: Sampdoria (Primavera), Pontedera, Siena, Pistoiese, Carraresse, Cesena, Lucchese, Atalanta, Napoli, Juventus, Inter Milan, Juventus (again) Italy (national team)
Current team: Italy
Achievements: 5 Scudetti, 1 Coppa Italia, 4 Supercoppa Italiana, 1 UEFA Champions League, 1 European Supercup, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 World Cup.

A bygone era

On June 26, 2008 Marcello Lippi was confirmed as the new manager of the Azzurri for the second time. Stepping back into the role in which Lippi achieved his greatest success, he now hopes to take Italy to the 2010 World Cup to defend their crown.
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7/22/2008
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

A club versus country controversy was averted as Ali Daei and Sepahan management reach agreement over player schedules.

In advance of their trip to Syria to participate in a tournament in Damascus, Sepahan management had contacted the Ali Daei to secure the release of their five players who are currently in Team Melli camp in Prague. However, Ali Daei had refused to agree to their release arguing that due to the cancellation of the practice games while in Spain, it was absolutely important for the Sepahan players to take part in the two games scheduled in Prague.
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goal.com

He is neither the strongest nor fastest, neither the most bullish nor skilful, yet he is one of the best and most underrated midfielders in football today. Goal.com profiles Spain and Barcelona’s midfield maestro, Xavi.

Born Xavier Hernández Creus on the 25th of January 1980 in Terrassa, northeast of Catalunya, the diminutive 1.70 metre tall midfielder is one of the rare breed of modern footballers who have spent their entire playing careers so far with one club.
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7/19/2008

TEHRAN (AFP) - The Iranian Football Federation on Friday said that it will complain to football world governing body FIFA over Egypt’s decision to cancel a friendly match because of a controversial film.

“If the game gets cancelled then we will lodge a complaint to FIFA,” the head of Iran’s Football Federation, Ali Kafashian was quoted as saying by the state run television news website.
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7/18/2008
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

After a life threatening illness, the “Eagle of Asia” is back to help his beloved club succeed at home and in Asia.

Affectionately nicknamed “The Eagle of Asia” for his wide wingspan and goalkeeping skills, Ahmadreza Abedzadeh is a well known name to all Iranian football fans. The former Team Melli goalkeeper has been one of the sport’s most popular figures for a good part of the last two decades and his popularity has shown no sign of decline even though he retired from playing more than 5 years ago. And now his back to his old club, Perspolis, as goalkeepers coach to help them defend the domestic title, and advance in the Asian Champions League.
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A place for non-football and/or random topic posts

Hi Lastkickers,

A few of you contacted me for a place where we could post random stuff. We had the Lastkick Forums for almost a year, but they didn’t seem to be too popular except for spammers who wanted to sell us all sorts of bizarre stuff which they claimed can help grow this and that!! Ahmm!!!!

So to accommodate your wishes I am creating this column that is to serve as a reservoir of random comments.

Meanwhile, if any of you is willing to take on the moderator responsibilities, contact us so we can talk. Maybe we can get the forum back up and going.

Thank you and enjoy the Beautiful Game

7/18/2008
John Duerden, goal.com Asia Editor

It’s Déjà vu for Iranian football fans. In the build-up to the 2006 World Cup, friendly matches were hard to come by. Those that were arranged were cancelled and only old faithful friends like Bosnia and Costa Rica provided preparation for a third appearance on the global stage.

A week ago, the 2008 version of Team Melli which had already had a friendly with Bulgaria scratched, was looking forward to four friendly matches –against Charlton Athletic, Marbella, Malaga and Egypt.

None will now go ahead. Some of this can be blamed on the oft-incompetent Iranian Football Federation (IFF), some on the other teams but one thing is for sure - Team Melli, one of the best in Asia, deserves better.
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7/17/2008
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Perspolis FC’s previously planned training camp in Spain has been cancelled.

The Tehran club was scheduled to camp in Spain from July 18th through 29th and play preparation matches with three undisclosed Spanish clubs. However, the club’s speaker Majid Farrokhzadi told reporters on Thursday that problems with securing visas for the entire entourage triggered the decision to cancel the trip.

“We are trying to make alternate arrangements in neighboring Turkey, and if we are not successful, we will continue our training in Iran.” said Mr. Farrokhzadi.
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7/17/2008

Footballmedia.net, Kaveh Mahjoob: The last image most Iranian football fans have of Afshin Ghotbi is the victory dance and celebration that he and rest of the coaches and players shared in the 96th minute of the last match of the season. Soon thereafter, Ghotbi left Perspolis and we all assumed he would not return to coach the REDs of Tehran. When Darioush Mostafavi was appointed to manage Pespolis and he began mentioning Ghotbi’s name, most assumed this was a tactic to use the former popular head coach’s name and shore fan support. Days later, Ghotbi was announced as the new-old head coach of Perspolis and Afshin Ghotbi’s sophomore year with Perspolis began.

Like last year, Ghotbi joins the team as the club has already gone through most of their player transfers moves. Like last year, Perspolis has popular former players as coaches. Ghotbi would want to see it happen that similar to last year, Perspolis would celebrate come end of the season.
I caught up with Afshin on July 14th. He was preparing to travel to Spain where Perspolis is to camp.
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goal.com

In spite of the turmoil at Arsenal in recent weeks, with the transfer rumours concerning Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb that just won’t go away, there was some good news for Gunners fans when Gael Clichy signed a new long-term deal with the club. However, there was a time when it looked as though Clichy would never get the chance to play for such an illustrious club. Nick Turner profiles the young French full-back…

Particulars

Name: Gael Clichy
Date of Birth: July 26, 1985
Place of Birth: Toulouse, France
Height: 5′9″ (1.75 m)
Weight: 10st 4lbs (65kg)
Position: Left-back

Early Career – And An Early Scare

Born in the South-West of France in the town of Toulouse on July 26th 1985, Clichy grew up obsessed with football - so much so that his parents felt that he would benefit greatly from a move to the AS Cannes academy set-up, famous for its youth policy and producing stars such as Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira.
However, at the age of fifteen, Clichy had not long been involved in the Cannes setup when he had an accident that nearly ended his life.
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